The Rural Voice, 1985-09, Page 90RAINY RIVER FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE
Highlight
The month of July brought nearly
perfect haying weather to the Rainy
River District. Finally tractors and
machinery were humming throughout
the District after area farmers had ex-
perienced some of the worst spring
weather in memory. Even so, there
are some successful crops of grain
scattered throughout the District,
proving that good farmers, with some
luck, can overcome most natural
obstacles. The obstacles being put in
front of agriculture by the rest of
society, however, have proven to be a
much larger problem.
Progress received another blow in
the Rainy River District on July 23
when the Stratton elevator was
destroyed by fire. Jack Elliot of
Rainy Agro had recently reopened the
wooden structure, which had been
built in 1938. Jack had made many
improvements to the existing
facilities, which had been idle for
many years. Rainy Agro was
prepared to act as a grain handling
agent, providing a market for smaller
producers, and many beef producers
had been looking forward to the pro -
Stocker Sale
Rainy River
Cattlemen's Association
26th Annual Stocker Sale
Stratton, Ontario
September 23
1500 yearlings, simultaneous
satellite transmission to
Cargill & Kitchener Stockyards
October 21
2000 calves, to be offered at
Stratton
• CN Rail Service
• Trucks available
• Double decker
loading facilities
• Canadian Imperial Banking
facilities available at the
stockyards
Sale Manager — Bob LeBlanc
R.R.1, Stratton, Ontario, P02 1NO
807-487-2671
88 THE RURAI VOICE
spects of a more diversified income.
In their short existence, Rainy
Agro has introduced many modern
techniques to District farmers, such
as bulk fertilizer, custom spraying
with flotation vehicles, and seed pro-
duction contracts. It is hoped that
Jack Elliot will be able to overcome
this setback and continue to service
District farmers with his innovations.
Replacement of the Stratton elevator,
however, is probably beyond expecta-
tion in today's financial climate.
On August 1, the Rainy River Soil
and Crop Improvement Association
held a farm tour through the District.
About 25 interested farmers met at
the Nussbaumer farm south of Emo
at 10 a.m. There they inspected the
Nussbaumers' grain drying facilities,
Bill Sieder's round bale bagger for
storing high moisture bales, and the
huge tarps the Nussbaumers use to
protect their round hay bales from
the weather.
The tour then moved south to in-
spect Larry Lamb's 125 acres of Leo
seed trefoil. This is his third year as a
commercial seed grower, and as the
kinks are being removed from the
operation, Larry feels it is proving to
be a successful endeavour. Rainy
River Drainage had just moved their
equipment onto the site, and Larry
feels that when the tile drains are in-
stalled, they will allow better manage-
ment over the entire operation.
Next stop on the tour was the part-
nership operation of Don McCulloch
and his son-in-law Paul Hujens.
After an interesting lunch conversa-
tion on the lawn, the group inspected
a plot of naked oats, which looked
very good. Another interesting
discussion erupted during the inspec-
tion of the new grassed waterway and
the recently completed McCulloch -
Woolsey municipal drain.
Then on to some of the dwarf
wheat plots on the Cornie Fehr farm.
Bill Romyn had a tremendous look-
ing crop of canary grass seed, which
was a new crop to the District. Next
the group checked the alfalfa seed
fields of the Wells Land and Cattle
Company, where Jack Elliot and
Peter Herod are managing the work
of the leaf cutter bee colony.
The tour ended at the Crop Check
North experimental station near
Pinewood. Colin Neilson, manager
of the experimental station, con-
ducted a tour of all the plots and ex-
plained the procedures used in crop
comparisons. Agriculture represen-
tative Bruce Ward then announced to
the group that agriculture minister
Jack Riddell would officially open
the Crop Check North experimental
station on Tuesday, August 13.
Everyone was invited to attend to
meet the minister, tour the facilities,
and enjoy an evening barbecue.
The Rainy River Cattlemen's
Association held a directors' meeting
at the Stratton Sales Yard on July 17.
President Gerald Gouliquer announc-
ed that word had been received from
the Agri -North Committee to proceed
with the satellite sale on September
23.
At the satellite sale on September
23, District farmers will offer approx-
imately 1,500 yearling steers and
heifers for sale.
Television cameramen will beam
the Stratton Sale in progress via
satellite to large screens at the Kit-
chener and Cargill Sales Yards.
Buyers can bid on these cattle and the
bids will be conveyed directly to the
auctioneer at Stratton via a special
telephone communication line.
Cattle will be sold on the usual 3
per cent shrink, although many
District producers are beginning to
feel this is a tremendous advantage to
the buyer. Tests over the past several
years have proven that District cattle
lose about 3 per cent shrink from
home to the Stratton yard. Cattle are
then weighed on entry and another 3
per cent shrink is subtracted from
that weight. Checks have proven that
the cattle quickly gain this shrink
back after two to three days on feed.
Hopefully, however, if the farmers
buying at Kitchener and Cargill can
profit by buying directly from the
cow -calf men in Rainy River, a better
market will be established for all con-
cerned. It has long been suspected
there is a 10 to 20 cent mark-up by
dealers between District producers
and feedlot farmers in southern
Ontario.
A calf sale will be held at Stratton
on October 21, with about 2,000
calves available to buyers.
The Rainy River Cattlemen's
Association held a town and country
beef barbecue at the Emo arena on
Friday, August 9. Colin Neilson,
chairman of the barbecue committee,
did a tremendous amount of work
organizing this event.
The Rainy River Federation of
Agriculture did not hold a directors'
meeting in July because of the busy
haying schedule.❑
Dean Hodgson